Tag Archives: DIY

At back-to-school time, I shared some cute back-to-school pudding cups and then zombie pudding cups, at Halloween. Now that we are past the holidays and into the winter, I’m sharing how you can make some cute snowmen. If you have a winter birthday party coming up or just want a fun surprise for your little one, these are easy to make and they’re sure to make everyone smile.

Snowman Pudding Cups

What you will need:

How to make:

STEP TWO: Turn the pudding cup upside down, and wrap the felt around the bottom of the pudding cup. Hot glue it in place.

STEP THREE: Using the orange felt, cut out a triangle carrot nose. Hot glue the nose onto the middle of the pudding cup’s front.

STEP FOUR: Hot glue four small, black buttons onto the cup to make a mouth.

STEP FIVE: Finally, glue on two large, black buttons for the eyes.

Let it dry and the snowman is complete! Repeat all the steps for as many snowmen as you want to make.

This winter, take a moment to slow down and enjoy a tasty and fun treat with the kids. Snack Pack® comes in a variety of flavors and offers endless mix-in opportunities the kids can help prepare. Each serving of Snack Pack® is fortified with as much calcium as an 8-ounce glass of milk,* so you can feel good about serving your kids Snack Pack®. For mix-in inspiration, visit Snack Pack® on Pinterest and Facebook.

Recently I learned about MindWare toys and how great they are. MindWare toys are “brainy toys for kids of all ages”. Their mission is to create a collection of unique products that help promote learning and engagement while still being fun and enjoyable! And in my opinion, MindWare does that. Whether you are looking for a high quality art set for your daughter or a remote control rover kit for your son, MindWare has something for every age child.

From the packaging, to the contents to the quality of the materials, these kits are some of my favorites.

Make Your Own Glitter Snow Globes

This kit is great for the holiday season, but could be used anytime of year. Snow Globes remind me of Christmas and of the winter. The packaging is high quality and colorful. There is no mystery of what is inside the box! With this set, your child is able to work with a variety of colored clay to design their own clay figure. Once they create their clay pieces, you can bake it, put the globe together and shake. It’s pretty straight forward and the final product is a no-leak, double sealed snow glob that will let you decorate your home with your child’s creations, without making a mess!

Paint Your Own Porcelain Vases

Like the Snow Globe kit, the Paint Your Own Porcelain Vases kit is great for all ages. The contents of this kit are high quality and the final products will be beautiful. This kit lets your little artist paint in any way they wish. Whether it is a very detailed design or an “abstract” design – you are sure to have some beautiful vases at the end of the day.

Let your child paint the vases with the included paints, and then help them bake the product in the oven to give it a finished, glossy look. This would be a great kit to get and then make some homemade Christmas gifts for grandparents, teachers or even for mom and dad!

Its refreshing when you come across a brand of toys that creates high quality toys that let your child’s creative mind go crazy! If you are looking for a unique gift this holiday season – please check out MindWare toys!

I’ll make sure to update this post as well with the final creations once they are all finished up!

** GIVEAWAY **

Use the widget below and enter to win one of the art sets of your choice (Choice of Snow Globes or Porcelain Vases). Giveaway open to US residents, 18+. Giveaway ends December 10, 2015.

As a member of the HP Smart Mom Panel for 2015 and a participate in the latest #StickaPic party campaign, I have been having lots of fun using the new HP Social Media Snapshots product. I had planned on having a party with our neighbors before moving, but if you know me in real life, you’ll know that we have had a lot of unplanned changes and stress from selling our house and buying a new house. Things are finally calming down so it was time to test this product out!

Photo from HP.com

If you are unfamiliar with this new product, the HP Social Media Snapshots are just that – a way to print out your social media photos directly from your smartphone or tablet. The photo paper has a sticky backing and they print out in the style of Polaroids (4×5 inches). Pin them up, stick them up or use them in a craft – there are so many projects you can use this photo paper for.

Now that we are currently settled into a rental house for a month (oi!) – I’m trying to have lots of fun with Lennox. This weekend we had a craft morning and started working on some Christmas presents featuring HP Social Media Snapshots.

This Christmas will be full of personalized goodies for our family and the first item we tested out was making Photo Coasters. I’ve always seen tutorials on how to make them, but they required mod podge or nail polish remover, and lots of other materials that were messy. But I have now solved that problem and made making photo coasters pretty much foolproof! Here is what you need to do.

Foolproof DIY Photo Coasters

Materials:

HP Social Media Snapshots Paper (Available at Staples)

Printer (I recommend the HP Envy 5660)

White Tiles (13 Cents at Home Depot!)

Scissors

Acrylic Glossy Finisher

Felt Circles

How to make easy DIY Photo Coasters:

STEP ONE: Using the HP Snapshots mobile app and HP Social Media Snapshots paper, print out your favorite photos from either your camera roll, Facebook, Twitter or Flickr. The HP Snapshots app is available for free in the iTunes App Store and the Google Play Store.

STEP TWO: If using a tile that is 4×4, you will find that the photo is just the right size! Cut out the photos for each coaster.

STEP THREE: Taking your first photo, peel the back off the photo paper to reveal the sticky backing. This is perfect for this project as there is no glue required!

STEP FOUR: Stick the photo onto your tile. Once you stick it down, since the backing is so sticky – it will stay put. Try to make sure you have no air bubbles.

STEP FIVE: Once you are ready to seal your photo coaster, bring outside and spray with an acrylic gloss finisher. You can find this at Michaels. This spray will protect the photo as well as give the tile a glossy look. You will need to spray the tiles 3-4 times, drying for 20-30 minutes between layers. Let dry completely.

STEP SIX: Once completely dry, turn over and adhere felt dots to each corner to help protect the surface the coasters will set on.

That’s it! Let them dry fully and set for a day before giving them as a gift – just in case!Also, let your kids have fun and decorate their own. Color on the with sharpies, add glitter, glue, gems, etc. The possibilities are endless and its a great project to do with any age group – young and old.

Disclaimer: As an HP Smart Mom Panel member, I received free products in order in return for this #StickaPic post. All opinions are 100% my own.